A cute little décor DIY to add a tiny bit of Touken Ranbu to a shelf or other space. Each diorama features a ‘main’ character and one of their friends. I hope you’ll enjoy making these dinky décor pieces. ^-^
What you’ll need:
• Scissors.
• Glue Stick.
• Matchboxes x4. (I’m using matchboxes that measure 5.2 x 3.6cm and have an interior section that slips in and out. I recommend finding something very similar as I sized the printables to this particular size of matchbox.)
• Tissue(s). (For wiping glue off of yourself and anything else it shouldn’t be on.)
Instructions:
Cut out the blocks of pictures as shown above. (You should have a ‘wrap block’, a ‘background block’ and a ‘character block’.)
Cut the wrap block into its two separate colours.
Pull the interior of your matchbox out and set it aside. Focus on the cover of the box first and the wrap strip with the crest on it.
Test wrap the strip around the box cover. Try getting the crest in the centre of the top of the box – the part you’ll see when the box is closed or when it is standing up to show the diorama inside. I’ve put a little extra over the edge underneath the box which will be stuck over the rest of the strip used to cover the base. (See 1- 2.)
Apply glue to the top of the box and carefully stick the crest section down; again trying to get the crest centred as you do so. You may need to trim the strip a little to fit the box without any overhang (you can do this either before or after you’ve stuck the crest section down). (See 3-4.)
With the crest section stuck down, fold the remaining strip down to see exactly how much you’ll need for the back and underside. Cut to your desired length and then apply glue to the ‘back’ and underside of the box and stick down. (Use your tissue to wipe away any glue on your fingers or on edges where it shouldn’t be.) Trim excess on edges if necessary. (See 5-6.)
For the final panel, apply glue to the paper, not the box, and then stick down; smoothing down the
overlapping piece thoroughly. Set aside to dry. (See 7-9.)
For the interior of the box, do another test wrap with the plain wrap strip. Fold a little over the lip of the interior of the box before wrapping the strip around it and, again, folding a little over the opposite side. (See 10-12.)
Now cut the excess of the strip off; this will be used to wrap the sides of the box. (See 13.)
Take the remainder of the strip, fold it in half and then cut along that centre line. We can use these pieces to cover the sides of the box. (See 14- 16.)
Press the piece of paper along the side of the box and gently crease it around the edges. (See 17-18; I was using my scissors to hold the paper down while taking the photo; they are not needed for folding the paper.) [Tip: Particularly crease the paper that will fold over the top and bottom sections of the box; the parts that aren’t folded over in picture 17. Those sections will create the creases we really need to cut.]
Cut along the creases that will allow you to have a flap going into the box and another along the back of the box. (See picture 19… it’s really hard to explain this…) Repeat this for the other side too.
Apply glue to the paper and stick it onto the panel. (See 20-21.)
Fold down the ‘top’ and ‘bottom’ flaps as well as the smallest flaps and then cover them with the larger flaps. (See 22-26.)
Smooth everything down well. Repeat on the other side.
Now we can put on the main piece that we cut earlier. Apply glue to the paper and stick the back section down first before carefully sticking down the other sections; smoothing everything as you go. (See 28-30.)
Now it’s time to put the diorama backdrop into the interior of the box. I recommend cutting out the pieces one at a time and cutting them to size before cutting out the next one. I’m starting with the floor. (See 31- 34.)
Carefully trim it to size; trying to trim equal amounts from each side as you do so, so as to allow it to
match up with the main picture. The only side you must not trim is the side that will sit against the main picture. Trim the small sides to fit the piece into the box and then trim the outer edge to also get it to fit in the box. Once you’re happy with it, set it aside and start on the next piece - the roof section. (See 35- 40.)
For the roof, if you want to make it easier to remember which side should be facing you – the ‘upper part’ on the picture block - write on the back with an arrow pointing to that top edge; leave a little space between the tip of the arrow and the edge as this is the side you’ll be trimming to fit into the box. Cut this piece so it actually ‘bends’ a little around the sides of the box. (I tried to show this as best as possible by including 2 slightly different angled shots – 37-38. 39 shows the overhang that needs trimming.)
Now we can cut the two side panels and the main image. The main image will also require the same
‘equal trimming’ method used previously. (Pro tip: Do not squash the main image into the box to check its fit. It will get stuck if it is the right size and thus you will struggle to get it out without wrinkling it… ‘Eyeball’ the size as best you can and then set it aside.) (See 41-43.)
Now we can stick everything in. Start with the floor, then the roof, then the main image and finally the two sides. Set aside to allow it to dry. (See 44-47.)
Congrats! You now have a matchbox diorama! The only thing missing is the characters to place in it. Let’s fix that. ^-^
Cut the character block into strips – one per character as shown. (See 48.)
Fold each strip just below the character’s feet and then begin cutting out around them (you can cut some of the lower tab off as you cut around the character; just be sure to leave the paper that is directly under them as much as possible). (See 49-51.)
Now you need to trim the tab and fold it so that it forms into a stand for the character. (See 52-55.) This is a lot of ‘fiddling’ and different per character, but it is doable.
Once you feel you’ve created a stand, apply glue to the top of the tab and stick it to the back of the
character. Manipulate the stand until your character stands upright. (I did my best to get everyone to be to scale with each other. My apologies if they aren’t exactly correct though.) (See 56-59.)
Now repeat for the rest of the characters. ^-^
Well done! I hope you enjoy coming up with fun and interesting ways of displaying these dinky décor items in your room.
The one box that I included parts for that isn’t a diorama – the brown one with a sakura emblem – is a storage box for you to place any unused characters in.
Below you’ll find a couple of pictures of the three boxes together (along with the storage box).
The other items in the pictures are parts of other posts that I’ve done previously; if you haven’t already seen them. The chest the dioramas are on is from this one and the sakura paper weight is from this one. ^-^
(Also, just a tiny trivia note, the diorama with Izuminokami and Horikawa is the only one I was trying to ‘replicate’ a scene with. It’s from Katsugeki, the final scene in the outro for the series has them amongst sakura trees. That’s what I was going for with their diorama. ^-^)
That’s it from me for now, my fellow Touken Ranbu fan. Until next time, keep enjoying your fan side of life!
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